Ranking the episodes of Game of Thrones Season 6
By Dan Selcke
10. “No One”
There’s a pretty wide consensus that “No One” was the weakest episode of the year, and with good reason. As with most Game of Thrones episodes, it has a lot going on. Unfortunately, it ends in Braavos, where it brings Arya’s two-season-long sojourn with the Faceless Men to an underwhelming end.
But before we get to that, let’s highlight what worked. For example, the stuff in King’s Landing was well-done, particularly the scene in the Throne Room where Tommen announces that trial by combat is outlawed. This is another example of the High Sparrow outmaneuvering Cersei, and vital setup for her pyromaniacal payback in “The Winds of Winter.” It’s transitional, but juicy.
The same is true of the Hound’s one-man revenge quest against the rogue members of the Brotherhood Without Banners, although I could have done without the latter’s vulgar fireside antics. It’s also fun to see Beric Dondarrion and Thoros of Myr back in action.
But the best parts of “No One” take place at Riverrun, where pretty much every scene is a winner, even filler ones like the playful reunion between Bronn and Pod. The Scene-of-the-Episode Award goes to the magnetic conversation between Jaime Lannister and Edmure Tully, where the Kingslayer lives up to his reputation and threatens to catapult Edmure’s newborn baby over the walls of Riverrun if he doesn’t help the Lannisters retake the castle. Earlier, we got a look at the noble, self-sacrificing Jaime when he talks with Brienne. But here we see that his ruthless side is still very much intact. All told, “No One” is the best Jaime episode since Season 3’s “Kissed By Fire,” where he told Brienne the truth about the Mad King’s death.
Jaime and Brienne share the saddest wave in the world, a great moment for both of them.
Okay, on to the bad stuff. Before we get to Braavos, I have to mention the limp comedy scene between Tyrion, Missandei, and Grey Worm. It’s hard to know what writers David Benioff and Dan Weiss were thinking here. It would be one thing if the jokes here were funny, or if the dialogue furthered the plot. But the scene just drags until the Masters attack Meereen and Daenerys returns to the city, and then we’re out for the week. It’s an odd sequence.
But the real problem with “No One” is the resolution of Arya’s story in Braavos, which is riddled with holes. One episode back, the Waif stabbed Arya in the gut and left her for dead. At the beginning of “No One,” non-medical professional Lady Crane nurses her back to health…with soup. And bed rest. After she’d fallen into Braavos’ filthy canals. On a show where the mighty Khal Drogo died of an infected cut on his pec, and where Arya herself witnessed a man die of a gut wound similar to her own, this was asking the audience to suspend its disbelief beyond the breaking point.
And that was before Arya started to do parkour all over Braavos while fleeing from the Waif. The latter’s death was satisfying—Benioff and Weiss paid off Arya’s former blindness nicely—but it didn’t excuse what came before. Then came the final scene, where Arya confronts Jaqen H’ghar about the hit he put out on her. Then she just kind of…leaves, without comment from her mentor. Jaqen had always been a mysterious character, but here, his muddled motives hurt the scene’s dramatic thrust.
Despite its virtues, “No One” is a patchy episode of Game of Thrones, and the low point of Season 6. But it only gets better from here.